Harada-Yasutani

Ellen Jikai Birx (born January 1, 1950), along with her husband Charles Shinkai Birx, is cofounder of New River Zen Community in Radford, VA. In 1998 she received Dharma transmission from Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy. She is a member of White Plum Asanga and the American Zen Teachers Association. She is the author of Healing Zen: Buddhist Wisdom on Compassion, ... Read More »

Charles Shinkai Birx (born December 24, 1944), along with his wife Ellen Jikai Birx, is co-founder of New River Zen Community in Radford, VA. In 1998 he received Dharma transmission from Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy. He is a member of the White Plum Asanga and the American Zen Teachers Association. He is co-author, along with his wife, of the book ... Read More »

Laren Hogen Bays (born 1949) is a Zen priest of the White Plum Asanga, a leader of the Zen Community of Oregon, and co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon. A practitioner of Zen Buddhism for 40 years now, Hogen began his practice in 1969 under Philip Kapleau at Rochester Zen Center. Of that time Hogen says, “My ... Read More »

Subhana Barzaghi (born August 7, 1954) is a Zen roshi working in New Zealand, Australia, and India and is a Dharma heir of John Tarrant and Robert Aitken. She received Dharma transmission from the two teachers in 1996 at Gorrick’s Run Zendo and is also an experienced Vipassana Insight Meditation instructor. In Japan she studied under Koun Yamada. A Buddhist practitioner of more ... Read More »

Josh Bartok (Keido Mu’nen, b. May 24, 1971) is the abbot (head teacher and spiritual director) at the Greater Boston Zen Center. He is a Dharma heir of James Ishmael Ford Roshi in both of the roshi’s lineages: the ordained Soto Zen lineage of Jiyu Kennett, and the koan introspection lineage of John Tarrant. Additionally, Josh’s Dharma teaching is influenced by ... Read More »

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold (born 1957) is a sensei with the Mountains and Rivers Order and a Dharma heir to John Daido Loori. A member of the White Plum Asanga, he currently serves as Abbot of the Zen Center of New York, a sister temple to Zen Mountain Monastery. A full time resident-in-training since 1986, today he manages the National Buddhist ... Read More »

AMA Samy, SJ (born 1936), born as Arul Maria Arokiasamy, is a Jesuit Sanbo-Kyodan Zen teacher from India, born to impoverished Indian parents in 1936 Burma, where as a boy he had some contact with Burmese Buddhism and Buddhist monks. He was raised for the most part in India by his maternal grandfather, an adherent of Islam. After school Samy joined ... Read More »

Robert Joshin Althouse (born March 29, 1949) is a Zen teacher and member of the White Plum Asanga, a dharma heir of Jikyo Nicolee McMahon Roshi. He is the current abbot of Zen Life and Meditation Center of Chicago in Illinois. He founded the Zen Center of Hawaii in 1993 and later received Dharma transmission in 1999 and inka in ... Read More »

Robert Gyoun Aitken Roshi (June 19, 1917—August 5, 2010) was co-founder of the Honolulu Diamond Sangha (with his late wife, Anne) — an esteemed author on Zen and a dearly loved teacher within the American Zen community. Many of Aitken’s peers looked to him for his wisdom and counsel, often during times of crisis or turmoil. Two of his books, Taking ... Read More »

Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken (February 8, 1911—June 13, 1994), dharma name An Tashin, is the late wife of Robert Aitken-roshi who studied with various Zen teachers, including Haku’un Yasutani, Yamada Koun and Soen Nakagawa. Together she and her husband founded Koko-an Zendo in Honolulu, which led to the establishment of Diamond Sangha in 1959. Anne played an important role in ... Read More »

About Sweeping Zen

Established in 2009 as a grassroots initiative, Sweeping Zen is a digital archive of information on Zen Buddhism. Featuring in-depth interviews, an extensive database of biographies, news, articles, podcasts, teacher blogs, events, directories and more, this site is dedicated to offering the public a range of views in the sphere of Zen Buddhist thought. We are also endeavoring to continue creating lineage charts for all Western Zen lines, doing our own small part in advancing historical documentation on this fabulous import of an ancient tradition. Come on in with a tea or coffee. You're always bound to find something new.

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